Anyone with a penis knows that its size isn’t always the same. Increases in size are normal during sexual arousal or when blood flow to the penis rises during sleep, and decreases in penis size are normal in response to cold temperatures or activation of the ‘fight or flight’ response. Temporary shrinkage of the penis in these circumstances is evidence of good physiological function.
In some men (we don’t know how many because nobody has ever done the research) the penis appears to shrink gradually over longer periods, eventually becoming completely buried within the body tissue behind the skin so only the tip can be seen. This condition is called buried penis, and it causes problems with urination (taking a wee), sex and hygiene (keeping clean) and can lead to more serious diseases including penis cancer.
What is a buried penis?
A buried penis is a typical-sized penis hidden under the surrounding skin of the pubic area or scrotum.
What causes buried penis?
Some babies are born with a buried penis because of the way their bodies developed before birth. In most of these boys, the condition sorts itself out as they grow, so that they end up with a normal length penis.
The actual length of the penis is not different between people who have a buried penis and those who don’t. Their penises only look shorter.
About half to two-thirds of the length of the penis extends outside the body. The other half to one third is inside the body, held in place under the pelvis by muscles and ligaments. (Check out the penis anatomy song for more details). In babies with a buried penis who require surgery to fix the condition, the ligaments hold the penis further back in the body than normal.
In men who develop a buried penis as they get older, obesity is usually the cause. Fat under the skin above and around the penis pushes the skin at the front of the body forward. Since the penis is attached to the pelvis, it doesn’t move forward, so less of its length is outside the body and more is inside. Eventually, if there’s enough fat, the whole length of the penis gets buried inside the body.
If you have a veranda over the playground, or it looks like your turtle is pulling its head in, you should talk to your doctor about losing weight. Having too much body fat doesn’t just make your penis look shorter, it causes a lot of serious health problems and takes years off your life.
So what’s Ozempic dick?
New weight loss drugs like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) are very good at helping people to lose weight, and some men have noticed an increase in penis length as a consequence. While there’s no scientific evidence yet, the anecdotal accounts and what we know about the effects of obesity and weight loss on (external) penis length, suggest that Ozempic dick (I think Ozemprick is the best name for it) is real.
I can’t think of better motivation to lose weight than the prospect of a longer life and a longer dick.
Tim Moss
Healthy Male Health Content Manager
Associate Professor Tim Moss has PhD in physiology and more than 20 years’ experience as a biomedical research scientist. Tim stepped away from his successful academic career at the end of 2019, to apply his skills in turning complicated scientific and medical knowledge into information that all people can use to improve their health and wellbeing. Tim has written for crikey.com and Scientific American’s Observations blog, which is far more interesting than his authorship of over 150 academic publications. He has studied science communication at the Alan Alda Centre for Communicating Science in New York, and at the Department of Biological Engineering Communication Lab at MIT in Boston.
